Compositor&#39;s stick.



Patented October 13, 1903.

AFN @rrrce,

FRANK XV. WEEKS, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

COM POSITORS STICK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 74:1,423, dated October 13, 1903. Application filed January 15, 1903- Serial No. 189,131. (No model.)

To all whom it out concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK WvWEEKs, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Antonio, in the county of BeXar and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oompositors Sticks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvements in mechanism for setting type and printing therefrom, and is particularly designed to be employed in connection with a type provided upon one end with a printing character and upon its opposite end with a corresponding proof character.

The object of the invention is to provide means for rapidly and easily setting type and printing therefrom by an unskilled person; and to this end it includes, primarily, a combined compositors stick and chase constructed and arranged as will be hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

While the invention is-susceptible of various modifications, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings and shall hereinafter describe what-I now conceive to be the preferred embodiment of the same.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of the improved compositors stick and chase. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the same, and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view.

In the construction of type in connection with which the present invention is primarily intended to be employed a proof-letter is arranged upon the opposite end of the body to that which carries the printing character, and a shoulder is provided on one side of the body adjacent to its proof end. In setting the required matter the proof ends of the type are held toward the compositor, so that when the form is completely set it may be easily read by an unskilled person without the necessity of securing a proof, as the proof characters are all positively presented. A type of the character referred to is designated by the letter (t, and the shoulder referred to is indicated by the letter Z).

My improved combined composit'ors stick and chase includes a body having a plurality of equidistantly-spaced slots extending entirely through the thickness of the same each dropped in the slots with their proof ends up- 'permost, and the shoulders 12 thereof engage with the edges of said slots to prevent the type passing entirelythrough the latter.

Ordinarily after the matter is set in a compositors stick the same is transferred to the chase to make up the complete form; but it is my purpose to utilize the body in which the type are first set as a chase. For this purpose means are associated therewith which will form a bed for the type to rest against when the form is completely set up, said means being displaceable, sofas not to interfere with the placing or setting of the type in the slots. The body is designated in the accompanying drawings by the letter cand is shown as provided with a plurality of equidistantly-' spaced slots 61, approximately in width the thickness of the type to be set therein. The upper face of the body 0 is recessed, as shown at e, leaving intact marginal stripsfalong opposite edges of the body, the inner walls g of said strips being approximately of the same or greater heights than the lengths of the type, which project above the face of the body when said type are set in the slots with their shoulders I) resting against the edges of the same.

Associated with the bodyc is a plate h, designed'to provide a backing for the type set in the body or a bed against which the proof ends of the type rest, so an impression may be taken from the printing ends thereof. This plate h is displaceably mounted in the body or connected thereto, so that when the type are being set the plate may be shifted, so as not to obstruct the entrance to the slots. One means for so mounting this plate is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which the same is shown as hinged at one edge to the wall g of one of the strips f, while the opposite edge of said plate has a detachable engagement with a catch m, secured to the wall g of the opposite stripf. After the form is set this plate is thrown down to bring its free edge beneath the catch an, in which position its under face will bear against and form a bed for the proof ends of the type. The body 0 is then prepared to be placed in any desired construction of press, the plate h sustaining the type when impressions are being secured from the printing-faces of the same. The plate h is preferably so positioned that when down in place its outer face will be flush with the faces of the strips f.

The construction and operation of my invention will be readily understood upon reference to the foregoing description and accompanying drawings, and it will be appreciated that the parts and combinations re cited may be varied within a wide range without departing from the spirit of the same.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

1. A combined compositors stick and chase,

20 comprising a body having a plurality of parallel elongated slots extending through the same, and a freely -shiftable displaceable backing-plate associated with said body.

2. Acombined compositors stick and chase including a body having a plurality of receiv- 

